Sketching the orange lobster boat

Oil sketches of the orange lobster boat on 7"x12" Canson canva-paper

Lots of fun this afternoon with the Plein Air Painters of Maine in the Puddledock section of Portsmouth; bright sunshine, relative warmth, and a gorgeous orange lobster boat off Round Island. I did a couple of oil sketches of the boat as it swung back and forth on its mooring, on a piece of Canson Canva-paper, which I like a lot. What do you think?

PAPME Show at the BRAF Gallery

"Time to Bale"

8"x10" oil on Raymar panel

$325 framed

"From Mt. Agamenticus"

5"x7" oil on Centurion oil primed linen panel

$200 framed

I'm pleased to have two paintings in the annual Plein Air Painters of Maine show at the BRAF Gallery in Boothbay Harbor. The show runs through November 25th and all paintings in the show were painted en plein air. My "Time to Bale" was painted between Freeport and Brunswick on a beautiful Sunday morning in September. "From Mt. Agamenticus" was painted on a sunny warm afternoon in October with the Plein Air Painters of Maine (PAPME) southern group in York. It's great fun to paint with PAPME, which has four sub groups, divided by region: southern, Boothbay, northern, and western. An email is sent out once a week with the locations for each group for that week. Take a look at the PAPME blog if you'd like to join us.

"November Sunset"

"November Sunset"

5"x7" oil on linen panel

$100

Here's the second painting I did yesterday, sunset in the balmy temperatures of early November in Massachusetts. That's Mt. Wachusett in the distance. I made a short video at the end of the previous painting, which you can see below in this post, or view here from the email. It's such fun painting into the sunset.

"Wachusett Late Afternoon"

 

 "Wachusett Late Afternoon"

5"x7" oil on Centurion linen panel

SOLD

This afternoon it was 60 degrees! I couldn't resist the warmth and sunny sky, and was off to capture the 4:35PM sunset in Harvard, MA, looking towards Mount Wachusett. I started with the above late afternoon version to warm up. I'll post a later video tomorrow and the second painting, of the sunset.

"Wells Marsh Sunset"

Wells Marsh Sunset

5"x7" oil on Centurion Linen panel

On Monday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine in Wells, on the marsh.  A beautiful afternoon, still warm, though windy on the beach, and we stayed through sunset. I've included a video here, which you may need to click on the title of the post to see, if you are reading this from the email.

"From Mt. Agamenticus"

From the top of Mt. Agamenticus, in York, Maine, around 5PM on Oct. 14

5"x7" oil on Centurion oil primed linen panel

The same view, about 5:30PM

And again around 6PM

On Monday I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine southern group, at Mt. Agamenticus State Park on top of the mountain of that name in York. Mary Byrom and I decided to stay and paint the sunset, using an approach she calls "painting into the sunset". First, we painted looking towards where we though the sun would set, just to get our bearings. Then as the sun started to set, we each began a second painting. And we managed to get a third as well. We were painting so fast, it was amazing. The sky was changing even faster though! As I said to Mary, what could be more fun than this?

"Pratt's Brook Marsh"

Pratt's Brook Marsh

9"x12" oil on Raymar panel

Initial Drawing

Not finished, but the light had gone...

End of first session

I had lots of fun at the marsh behind Day's Lobster in Yarmouth, Maine last weekend. It was just before sunset and I'd get an occasional glimpse of the sun, just enough to light up the marsh grass with that wonderful autumn glow. I'm always amazed at how fast the tide moves in the creek bed, it was a challenge to fix one water level in my memory. I wasn't quite finished when the light had gone and so went back a couple of nights later, catching the rising instead of ebbing tide. The finished painting is at the top.

"Downtown Monhegan"

"Downtown Monhegan"

8"x10" oil on linen panel

the painting on the easel, it became overcast as I finished up

the initial drawing

This is my favorite painting from my trip last week to Monhegan Island. And it was the first one that I painted! As I headed towards the Trailing Yew, where I was staying, I noticed the wonderful shade provided by the shed on the right of the middle picture (where all the signs are posted). I wouldn't even need to set up the umbrella! So I quickly got my gear organized and came right out to take advantage of the sun, blue sky, and blissful shade.

Now this is the main drag on Monhegan and the daily tour boats were due in over the next couple of hours, so I knew it wasn't going to be the easiest place to paint. But I've had a photo of this scene taken years ago, with my husband standing in the road, that I've always wanted to paint. So I went at it, and it was such fun. I got lots of comments as people streamed by, and enjoyed listening to bird watchers commenting on the warblers in the bush behind me. I didn't include any figures, I'll tackle them in a larger studio version.

Monhegan Black Head Plein Air

Monhegan Black Head - Plein Air Study

8"x6" oil on Raymar Panel

$100 - email me for a PayPal invoice if you are interested

Here I am enjoying the plein air experience, and who wouldn't in this gorgeous spot!

The finished painting, with the cliff behind, and a birder enjoying the season.

I've had a wonderful week of painting, and no time to post! On Tuesday, I painted with Mary Byrom at Hamilton House in South Berwick, ME. What a totally gorgeous spot. Unfortunately, my painting wasn't gorgeous, and is no more. But things got MUCH better later in the week, and Mary and I had a great time talking art. On Wednesday, the Plein Air Painters of Maine went to Fisherman's Island, off Boothbay Harbor, as guests of the owners. I'll save the two paintings I did there for another post.

On Thursday and Friday, I was on Monhegan Island, and what a treat it was. Above is my second painting from Thursday. I'm posting it first, because I painted it in response to last week's challenge on the dailypaintworks.com site, from my friend Bruce McMillan. Take a look here to see all the paintings done from Bruce's photograph. I was fortunate to be able to paint looking at the real thing. And while doing so, a Minke whale serenaded me, birders came by and I heard them name the birds as the flew by, it was a dream come true. The sun came out just often enough for me to be able to paint a sunny view, but not enough to get a good photo with it shining.

"Two Sunflowers"

"Two Sunflowers"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

SOLD

I love sunflowers, and buy them at the farmer's market and the grocery store. I've had a couple of beautiful bunches in vases here for the last couple of weeks, but last weekend at the farmer's market there were no more.